anybody heard of the Warn PowerPlant series

So i was on the Warn home page the other day and found 2 winches they offered called the "powerplant".
they come in an HP model that is rated at 9500 lb and an HD model that is rated at 12000.
Nothing strange about that but what is neat about them is they both feature a built in Air Compressor that according to the site is capable of filling up four 35inch tires in 8 minutes or less making it extremely useful while off roading ( not sure how true this is but i have heard that lowering the tire pressure offers better traction when off road, and this would make it easy to re inflate before returning onroad), aswell as offers all the other advantages of an Air Compressor such as filling up a tube while camping or using a nailgun while on the job.

If Anyone has owned one of these in the past or currently owns one i would appreciate any and all feedback/ experience that is given.

We sell WARN and they make a great winch. It is true-airing down your tires helps a lot with traction. That powerplant is a 2-1 winch/compressor which looks like a great idea and very practical.

We also carry air compressors (both portable and bolt on) that are very useful for the things you mentioned: tires, airbeds, tools, etc. It is great to see that there are so many accessories for different applications and price ranges!

I really wanted one of the PowerPlants but when researching them I learned that PowerPlant winches can't be used with the hidden winch carrier Warn makes for the NBS trucks like mine. So, I bought a 9.5XP, instead.

So i was on the Warn home page the other day and found 2 winches they offered called the "powerplant".
they come in an HP model that is rated at 9500 lb and an HD model that is rated at 12000.
Nothing strange about that but what is neat about them is they both feature a built in Air Compressor that according to the site is capable of filling up four 35inch tires in 8 minutes or less making it extremely useful while off roading ( not sure how true this is but i have heard that lowering the tire pressure offers better traction when off road, and this would make it easy to re inflate before returning onroad), aswell as offers all the other advantages of an Air Compressor such as filling up a tube while camping or using a nailgun while on the job.

If Anyone has owned one of these in the past or currently owns one i would appreciate any and all feedback/ experience that is given.

yeah i read that when looking at them, i was looking at the same hidden winch carrier you have and when they showed applicabable winches i noticed the powerplant wasn't mentioned. Looking at the blueprint picture i noticed that they are taller due to the additional compressor and from what i can figure there just isn't room for them inside the stock bumper.
This isnt a problem for me bacause i currently have the N-fab RSP replacement front bumper.
It doesnt have a winch mounting location but it does leave the frame horns exposed inside enough that with a little fabrication i could build a winch plate that bolts to the framehorns in the back and to the front cross bar of my bumper. There are currently 4 light mounts built in on the front cross bar, i dont think these would be strong enough for mounting the front of the plate to but i could cut them off and weld stronger mounts on which would allow me to bolt a 1/4" steel plate to the frame horns in the back and the new strengthened light mounts in the front.
Another idea i am having is mounting the winch lower inside the bumper and cutting a notch in the aluminum skidplate for a fairlead. this protect it more because the bumper would essectially form a cage around the winch. Also with the added height of the Air compressor on top it wouldnt look as unsightly if it were to be mounted down inside. This would also allow me to still use my lightmounts which i would like to use to run 4 KC Daylighters.
The third idea i have had is removing the plastic splashguard that bolts to the frame cross member to the lower control arm crossmember and building a winch mount that mounts directly to the frame infront of the motor and making a Skidplate out of Diamond Plate instead of the cheap Plastic Splash Guard.
Another idea i had was welding a 2" reciever hitch to the Lower Control Arm Crossmember and cutting a notch in the splashguard enough for A 2" hitch to slide in. This Method would allow me to make a Portable Winch Plate that could be moved from front to back.
My concerns with the last two ideas is them being too low and worrying about water shorting it out while mudding.
The last idea i had was to mount it between my grille and Radiator and cut a notch in the grille for a fairlead. This would offer the Best Protection from water and Snow since i live in NNNY- "northern northern new york lol. Canada is literally 3/4 of a mile from my town. Also this would offer better protection from theives as the hood and grille would have to be opened in order to remove it. (out of sight, out of mind)
Any thoughts you guys have feel free to pipe in as any feed back is appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

I had a Warn Powerplant on my Jeep Wrangler until someone else wanted the winch more than I did.
The winch worked great, no surprise there Warn has always made great winch's.
I wasnt as enthused about the compressor, I never got mine to operate as good as Warns claims, my Jeep runs 32" tires, from 16PSI to 38PSI for all four tires took me closer to 25 minutes.
But even with a longer fill time I was still happy with the unit as I didnt have to figure out where to mount a compressor and tank. I think it was worth the money and I hope the new owner is as happy with it as I was.

Airing down tires while off-roading makes for a larger contact patch allowing the tire to spread out over the terrain instead of sitting on top of it, it also helps tires leave less damage to soil and plants. Tread lightly used to have a list of benefits to airing down, dont know if they still have them posted on their site.

Be advised that I contacted Warn and asked about use of the PowerPlant with the hidden kit ... and their response was that they could not be used together. I did this because the PowerPlant was so new, at the time, that it could have been a matter of the Warn site not being updated. However, their response showed that it was not an omission. :neutral:

As for mounting, I personally wouldn't mount the winch upside down. I'm not well-enough versed in winch internals to get specific as to why. I know they are sealed with a lubricant inside of them ... and none of the winch carriers I've seen mount the winch upside down. The engineer in me suspects there's probably a good reason for this that a winch specialist could explain...

There might be some winch models that cant be mounted upside down but but I couldnt think of any right off hand. Most winch's use either worm gears or planetary gears for the drive mechanism, the mechanism is lubricated by a coating of grease on the gears or worm drive. The only winch's I've ever seen lubed by oil are older power take-off models (which are almost non-existant now), they used an oil bath system which threw oil up onto the gears via small paddles mounted to the lower gears.
If you look at some of the hardcore wheelers with buggy's it's common for them to mount the winch upside down in the center of the truck for better weight distribution and so the winch can be used at either end of the truck.
The winch electronics dont really care which way is up.

Warn advises not mounting the PowerPlant models behind or inside anything due to the heat build up, to much heat wll make the electricals fail, the winch motor already has issues if used right after a long session of using the compressor.

That's good info, Tim. I err on the side of caution with such things and am now a little more educated on the topic. Based on this info it surprises me that more carriers aren't inverted ... but it may have to do with the electronics being on top of most winches?

That's good info, Tim. I err on the side of caution with such things and am now a little more educated on the topic. Based on this info it surprises me that more carriers aren't inverted ... but it may have to do with the electronics being on top of most winches?

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I always attributed that to people not thinking out of the box, stress loads on the winch will be the same right side up or upside down. In some cases it might be the winch doesnt sit high enough and will become a low point affecting the AOA.
As far as moisture I'm sure a well applied line of sealant could stop most of it and a few drip holes in the bottom/top of the case could drain the rest. If I wheeled in areas where I did a lot of water crossings I might not be as likely to mount the winch upside down but here in Texas it isnt a real issue. Most winch's will take a dunking with no problems but I'm of the opinion if I dont have to test this particular theory than I wont. I've only been stranded by a non working winch once, my Ramsey RE8000 smoked both in and out solenoids, fortunately the solenoids it uses are the exact same model used on pre 1986 Jeep starters which is what I happened to be driving that day, 5 minutes with a wrench and problem solved.